Kant and the Fate of Autonomy: Problems in the Appropriation of the Critical Philosophy (Modern European Philosophy)

363 Pages·2000·20.76 MB·English

by  Karl Ameriks

KANT AND THE FATE OF
AUTONOMY
Problems in the Appropriation of the Critical
Philosophy
KARL AMERIKS
University ofNotreDame
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITYPRESS
PUBLISHED BYTHE PRESS SYNDICATEOIlTHE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The Pitt Building,Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk
40 Westsoth Street, NewYork,NY 1001h1211, USA http://www.cup.org
10 StamfordRoad, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166,Australia
Ruiz de Alarcon 13,28014Madrid, Spain
© KarlAmeriks 2000
This bookisin copyright. Subject tostatutory exception
and to the provisionsofrelevantcollective licensingagreements,
no reproduction ofany partmay take place without
the written permission ofCambridge University Press.
First published 2000
Printedin the UnitedStates ofAmerica
TypifaceBaskerville 10.25/13 pt. SystemMagnaType™[AG]
A catalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefrom theBritish.Librmy.
Library ofCongress CataloginginPublicationData
Ameriks, Karl, 1947-
Kant and the fate ofautonomy: problems in the appropriation ofthe critical
philosophy
1KarlAmeriks.
P: em. (ModernEuropean philosophy)
Includesindex.
ISBN0-521-78101-9 (hb) - ISBN 0-521-78614-2 (pbk.)
L Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804- Contributionsin conceptoffreedom. 2.
Reinhold, Karl Leonhard, 1758-1823 - Contributions in conceptoffreedom. 3.
Fichte,Johann Gottlieb, 1762-1814- Contributionsin conceptoffreedom. 4.
Hegel, GeorgWilhelm Friedrich, 1770-1831 - Contributionsin conceptof
freedom. 5. Liberty - History - iSth century. 6. Liberty- History - 19th
century. I. Title. II.Series
B2799.L49 A48 2000
142'.3- dC21
ISBN 0 5ln 78101 9hardback
ISBN 0 521 786142 paperback
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments pagexi
Introduction: Kant and the Fate ofAutonomy 1
A One Story ofthe Decline and Fall ofAbsolute
Autonomy 4
B A Road Map to the Main Stages ofKant and After 23
PART I KANT
1 Kant's Modest System 37
A Preliminary Overviewofthe Modern Context of the
Critical Philosophy 41
B Kant's Answer: Philosophyas a ModestScience 49
C Kant's Immediate Successors: Contrasting Reactions to
Modesty
D Systematic Modesty and Practical Philosophy
PART II REINHOLD
2 Reinhold's Contribution 81
A The Gospels Revised: Preliminary Overviewof Four
Critical Doctrines in a New "Improved"Version 81
B Reinhold's First Doctrine: Philosophy as Public and
Certain 96
vii
viii CONTENTS
C Reinhold's Second and Third Doctrines: Philosophyas
Rigorous and Bounded 112
D Reinhold's Fourth Doctrine: All for the Sake ofSelf-
Determination 136
E The End ofReinhold's Project: Shipwreckwith
Spectators 159
PART III FICHTE
3 Kant, Fichte, and ShortArguments to Idealism 163
A Kant's Program Reviewed 165
B Reinhold's Modifications ofKant Reviewed 170
C Fichte's Radicalization ofReinhold's Modifications 172
D Hegel's Reaction Previewed 185
4 Kant, Fichte, and the Radical Primacy ofthe Practical 187
A The Many Meanings of "In the BeginningWas the Act" 187
B Three Senses ofthe Primacy ofPure Practical Reason 190
C The Practical Foundation ofPhilosophy in Fichte's
Texts 194
D Ambiguities in Interpreting Fichte as a Practical
Foundationalist 203
E Does Fichte's Idealism Avoid Being "One-Sided"? 211
F Does Fichte "Demonstrate"What Kant Could "Only
Postulate"? 219
5 Kant, Fichte, and Apperception 234
A Fichte's Legacy and ContemporaryTheories of
Apperception
B Review ofKant's Notion ofApperception
C Problems in Current ExplicitlyFichtean Accounts of
Apperception 244
D Similar Problems in Other CurrentAccounts of
Apperception
PART IV HEGEL
6 Hegel's Critique ofKant's Theoretical Philosophy
A Kant's Transcendental Deduction and Transcendental
Idealism
B Hegelversus Kant: The "I" in the Deduction
C Hegel versus Kant: Necessity and the Deduction
D Hegelversus Kant: On Preliminary Knowledge
E Hegelversus Kant's Idealism: On the Thing in Itself
CONTENTS ix
F Hegel versus Kant's Idealism: On the Antinomy of
Space and Time 3°1
G Hegel versus Kant's Idealism: On the Antinomy of
Freedom 3°2
H Hegel versus Kant's Idealism: On the Paralogisms 306
7 The Hegelian Critique ofKantian Morality 309
A Three Disputes: The Possibility,Content, and
Motivation ofMorality
B Kant on Moral Motivation
C Kant on Moral Motivation and Religion
D Hegel'sAlternative: Autonomy and Development
within Secular Bounds 331
8 The Unresolved Fate ofAutonomy 338
Name Index 345
SubjectIndex 350

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This volume has been in the making for more than a decade, and over
that time I have benefited in manywaysfrom many more people than I
can begin todojustice tohere. Iam deeplyindebted to all the colleagues,
students, friends, and fellow scholars who have helped me with philo
sophical issues concerning the period of "Kant and after." In notes
throughout the volume and in remarks in the Introduction, I indicate
many specific philosophical debts, but it is no.doubt an incomplete ac
counting, and I apologize to those who are not given the credit they
deserve.
Special thanks for making possible the completion ofthe volume are
owed to RobertPippin and Gary Gutting, who helpednotonlyon count
less specific points but also with their constant encouragement and the
challenge of their relentless intellectual energy. Mythanks also to Terry
Moore atCambridge UniversityPress for his kindpatience andguidance
and to the Press's careful reviewers for their many insightful remarks.
The earlyworkofDaniel BreazealeandAlexandervon Schonbornwas
crucial for my first investigations of Reinhold. More recently, Manfred.
Kuehn, Manfred Frank, and DieterSturrnahave providedextensive help
on numerous projects involving the understanding ofthe latest German
research in this area; it has been an honor and an education for me to
have been associated with them in common projects. I should also ac
knowledge theinspiringinfluenceofthe outstandingseniorscholarswho
xi
xu ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
led me into this tradition: Karsten Harries, David Carr, Hans Frei,John
Findlay, Cyrus Hamlin, DieterJahnig, Walter Schulz, and Gerold Prauss,
Gunter Zoller, Sally Sedgwick, Thomas Rockmore, Graciela de Peirris,
Michael Friedman, PaulFranks,Alison Laywine, Stephen Houlgate, Carl
Posy, Patricia Kitcher, Rudolf Makkreel, Henry E. Allison, Jerry
Schneewind, Allen Wood, Daniel Dahlstrom, Fred Neuhouser, Tom Me
Carthy, Kenneth Westphal, Frederick Beiser, Pauline Kleingeld, Paul
Guyer, Raymond Geuss, Marcia Baron, Marcelo Stamm, Alessandro
Lazzari, Susan Shell, Georg Mohr, Rolf-Peter Horstmann, Volker
Gerhardt, Christel Fricke, andJane Kneller have helped byarranging or
participatingin meetingswhere theirspecialcontributionsandquestions
providedacrucialstimulusfor myfinal revisions. Manystudentshave also
belped through discussions on issues relating to this project, especially
Eric Watkins, John Davenport, Patrick Kain, Tad Schmaltz,Jeff Hoover,
VictorKrebs, Daniel Kolb, Michael Murray,StevenNaragon, and Hayden
Anderson. In addition, Andrew Lamb and Patrick Frierson provided ex
cellent assistance with the final preparation of the text.
I am verypleasedto acknowledge institutional supportfor this project
from a Fellowship Grantfrom the National Endowmentfor the Human
ities (for 1998), as well as from special grants from the Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation, the Earhart Foundation, and the Institute for
Scholarship in the Liberal Arts at Notre Dame. A number of creative
scholar-administratorshave helpedgreatlyin makingitpossibleforme to
have time to devote to this project, and I am especially indebted to
Nathan Hatch, Mark Roche, Christopher Fox, and Stephen Watson for
helping to arrange an extended leave for me for 1997-8. Iwould like to
express my deep appreciation to the members of the Notre Dame phi
losophydepartmentandthewholeNotre Damecommunityfor theextra
ordinarilysupportive and stimulating environmentthat they have always
provided for me and my whole family - and without them, without
Geraldine and Michael and Kevin, all the work would have made no
sense.
I gratefully acknowledge permission from the publishers to use mate
rials from the following earlier publications. For Chapter 2: "Reinhold
and the Short Argument to Idealism," in Proceedings: Sixth International
Kant Congress I985, ed. G. Funke and T. Seebohm (Washington: Center
for AdvancedResearch in Phenomenologyand UniversityPress ofAmer
ica, 1989),vol. 2, part2, 441-53.ForChapter3:"Kant, Fichte,andShort
ArgumentstoIdealism,"Archivfilr GeschichtederPhilosophic72 (1990): 63
85. For Chapter 4: "Fichte's Appeal Today: The Hidden Primacy ofthe
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii
Practical," in The Emergence of German Idealism, ed. M. Baur and D.
Dahlstrom (Washington: CatholicUniversityofAmericaPress, 1999),pp.
116-30; and "The Practical Foundation ofPhilosophy in Kant, Fichte,
andAfter," in'TheReceptionofKant's CriticalPhilosophy:Fichte,Schelling, and
Hegel, ed. S. Sedgwick (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000),
pp. 109-28. For Chapter 5: "Understanding Apperception Today," in
Kant and Contempora'ry Epistemology, ed, P. Parrini (Dordrecht: Kluwer,
1994), pp. 331-47; and "Kantand the Self:ARetrospective," in Figuring
the Self: Subject, Absolute, and Others in Classical German PhilosojJhy, ed. G.
ZoellerandD.Klemm (Albany:SUNYPress, 1997),pp. For Chap
ter 6: "Hegel's Critique ofKant'sTheoretical Philosophy," Philosophyand
PhenomenologicalReseorcnsi) (1985): 1-35. For Chapter7: "The Hegelian
Critique ofKantian Morality," in New &says on Kant, ed. B. den Ouden
(New York:Peter Lang, 1987), pp. 179-212.